PRAGUE, Dec 22 First group of military personnel completed training in Czech Republic from Ukraine, which took place at the Libava military training ground in the Olomouc region in the north-east of the republic, a total of 4,000 Ukrainian military personnel will undergo such training by the end of 2023, Czech Radio reported on Thursday.
Moscow has a negative attitude towards the EU decision to create a training mission for Ukrainian military personnel, but this did not come as a surprise to Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said earlier. According to him, the West's actions testify to its line of inflating tension and escalation, which contradicts «the statements that we hear from different capitals about the need to find a negotiated solution, to start substantive negotiations.»
«The training of Ukrainian military personnel on the territory of the Czech Republic was approved in November by decisions of the government and parliament of the republic. A total of 4,000 Ukrainians will undergo it, the first group of classes ended on Thursday. Head of the Defense Ministry Yana Chernokhova and Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Army arrived to escort military personnel from Ukraine to the Libava training ground Karel Řegka,» the statement said.
In the Czech Republic, the Ukrainian military was trained in basic combat skills, including shooting from machine guns and driving infantry fighting vehicles, as well as in education of leadership qualities. The Ukrainian unit, roughly the size of a battalion, included both new recruits and those already in combat.
The next group of Ukrainian servicemen will arrive for training in the Czech Republic at the end of January 2023.
Moscow notes with regret that the ongoing large-scale assistance to Kyiv is increasingly involving Western countries in the conflict on the side of the Kyiv regime, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier. The head of the department, Sergei Lavrov, speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Ukraine, said that Western countries that support the Kyiv regime are becoming a party to the conflict. He also noted that any shipments that contain weapons for Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia.